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| Chiac | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Canada |
| Region | Acadians in southeastern New-Brunswick |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
Chiac (orChiak,Chi’aq), is apatois ofAcadian French spoken mostly in southeasternNew Brunswick,Canada.[1] Chiac is frequently characterized and distinguished from other forms of Acadian French by its borrowings fromEnglish and is thus often mistakenly considered a form ofFranglais.
The word "Chiac" can also sometimes be used to refer to ethnicAcadians of rural southeastern New Brunswick, who are not consideredFrench Canadian historically and ethnically because of their separate and distinctive history. They are considered ethnically as "Chiac-Acadian"[2] or simply "Chiac".
As a major modern variety of Acadian-French, Chiac shares most phonological particularities of the dialect. However, Chiac contains far more Englishloanwords compared to other Canadian French dialects. Many of its words also have roots in theEastern Algonquian languages, most notablyMi'kmaq. Loanwords generally follow French conjugation patterns; "Ej j'va aller watcher un movie" uses the English-derived loanword "watch" as if it were an "-er" verb. The most common loans are basic lexical features (nouns, adjectives, verb stems), but a few conjunctions and adverbs are borrowed from English ("but, so, anyway").
Chiac originated in the community of specific ethnic Acadians, known as "Chiacs, Chiaks or Chi'aq",[2] living on the southeast coast of New Brunswick, specifically near theShediac Bay area.
While some[who?] believe that Chiac dates back as far as the 17th or the 18th centuries, others[who?] believe it developed in the 20th century, in reaction to the dominance of English-language media in Canada, the lack of French-language primary and secondary education, the increased urbanization of Moncton, and contact with the dominantAnglophone community in the area.[citation needed] The origin of the word "Chiac" is not known; some speculate that it is an alteration of "Shediac" or "Es-ed-ei-ik".
Chiac is mostly spoken by native speakers ofAcadian French in the southeastern region of New Brunswick. Its speakers are primarily located in theWestmorland County of southeastern New Brunswick and further north along the coast in adjacentKent County.
Further north along the coast,Acadian French resemblingQuebec French is more common as the border withQuebec is approached. To the immediate east, west, and south, fully bilingual speakers of French and English are found, and the regions beyond typically have unilingual Anglophones.
Acadian writers, poets, and musicians such asLisa LeBlanc,Radio Radio,[3]Fayo,[4]Cayouche,Les Hay Babies,1755,Antonine Maillet[5] and many others have produced works in Chiac.
Chiac is also featured inAcadieman, a comedy about "The world's first Acadian Superhero" by Dano Leblanc.[6]
Chiac, the little-known mixed Algonquian-Acadian French language of the Metis people in Maritime Canada bears a remarkable similarity in syntax to Michif
La Sagouine's use of chiac, the type of Acadian French native to rural New Brunswick.
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